Minccino wasn't the only Pokemon that I had during this excursion. I also have two more Pokemon: a Purrloin and a Ducklett. Ducklett was given to me as my source for flight should I ever be stuck in a situation where the other grunts and Sages wouldn't get to me. But that thing would get crushed on my weight, so I had to make it evolve into a Swanna as soon as I could. That meant that I made it battle a lot. I wouldn't really stop until I could see that Ducklett couldn't move anymore. Usually, I would just stop and sit until it got better. I had plenty of Max Potions and Full Restores with me if need, so there was little need to go to the Pokemon Center. But when I couldn't help it myself, I had to put on a different disguise as a regular trainer and take it to the Pokemon Center. Because really... a Team Plasma member would never be welcomed to a Pokemon Center.

Purrloin was my other battler. Mostly everyone of the lower class of Team Plasma had a Purrloin. I don't know if that was some kind of rule or something, but that was the case. But compared to Ducklett, Purrloin was even weaker. I couldn't really count how many times that Pokemon fainted on me and I had to switch on Ducklett. Unbelievable. But no matter how many times it fainted, it was always eager to battle again.

"Why keep going? You're so weak! Look at you, you can barely stand!" I said one time during a battle. Purrloin only shook its head and stood. Its legs wobbled, but it still wanted to keep going. I grunted in annoyance. "Why keep going? It's a waste." I asked again. Purrloin only growled, ignoring my question. I gave myself a facepalm, Purrloin wasn't going to listen to me. "Fine... run yourself ragged until you can't move. Now go and use Pursuit!" I ordered as Purrloin charged towards a wild Patrat. It lost, of course. I had to carry it back to one of the warehouses in Nacrene. A good amount of them were empty, so some of the Team Plasma grunts stayed here and planned out our mission. In the meantime, I kept all of my Pokemon out so that they could rest more.

Every now and then, I would see all three of them huddle together in a spot away from me. I didn't mind. As long as they were bothering anything, they were fine... But, they all looked so much at peace when they were huddled together. I thought to myself when I was looking at them, "That is what I'm fighting for," forgetting the fact that I was the very one who roughed them to that state in the first place. Of course, at the time I didn't really pay mind to that part when I should have very well did.

Tomorrow is where the mission was supposed to be set. We were to break in the Nacrene Museum while the Gym Leader Lenora is distracted with a Gym Battle, and steal the Dragon Skull that is being held there. Easy enough, so I didn't battle for that entire day, reserving my strength. When I was relaxing, I felt Minccino nuzzle up beside me. I stared at it again, that Pokemon was a strange one. "What are you doing? Go back over there with the others." I said, pointing to Ducklett and Purrloin. Minccino shook its head and started to dust off the dirt from my uniform boots instead. "Ugh... you're a strange one. You won't listen to what I say, yet you nuzzle up on me! What's the deal with you-hey!" I was interrupted as I felt Minccino's tail now trying to tickle my nose. Naturally, I flailed out of control and tried to swat it away. Minccino only laughed at me, or at least it looked like it was laughing.

Geez, it was a good thing the other grunts didn't see this.

I sighed. "You're a strange little Pokemon, you know that? We're too different, you and I." I said, looking away. I only felt Minccino snuggle up on me again, this time falling asleep, seeing as I had enough torture for one day. I shook my head as I adjust my body, trying to feel comfortable with Minccino's head laying against my stomach. Then I felt more heads against me, and I looked down to see Purrloin and Ducklett laying up against me. I took off my hood and ran a hand through my orange hair, just sighing.

"You three are way too strange."

The mission was... a success? If you could call it that... We were able to break into the museum and steal the Dragon Skull. After that we ran into Pinwheel Forest, and gave the Skull to the Sage Gorm, who was there with us. Little did we expect that we'd be pursued by a kid! Not just any kid too, he was one of the kids I saw back in Accumula Town! I thought he was just a newbie trainer, but he was strong... really strong for a kid! One by one we kept him at bay, and one by one he wiped us all out. It was hard to stall him, if you could call it that. Were we really that weak?

It was my turn, and I boldly stepped in front of the boy's way. "Nice going, but you'll have to go through me now! You won't be so lucky with me, kid!" I bellowed as I challenged him, bringing out Purrloin as my first choice. But... we didn't last very long... How could we? He was so strong... I couldn't understand why a kid like this was so strong. W-Well... he looked about my age... but still! The way he put down Purrloin, then Ducklett, was unreal. Did he even change Pokemon? N-No he didn't... he had an Emboar, a strong one at that, with him that wiped my entire team. Minccino was last, and it put up more of a fight than both Purrloin and Ducklett. But it was useless... that kid decimated me. I remember sinking to the ground in defeat in disbelief. "S-So strong... but how?" I stammered. And then that kid answered me.

"My Pokemon are my friends. We always work together to become strong. And together we'll be even stronger!"

...

Friends?

I scoffed, still feeling defeat. "T-Tch... Whatever... just go, kid." I said, waving my hand in a "shoo" motion. I already lost the battle, I didn't need my pride stomped on too... if you could call that pride. I was among the grunts that got their butt handed to them by a kid! Yeah... I had little to no pride then. I just wanted to go and forget that ever happened. According to Gorm, we didn't need the Dragon Skull anymore, since we got what we needed. So, that left me with a new mission of my own. To Nimbasa City I go.

As I headed past Castelia City and towards Nimbasa, the battle kept replaying in my mind. Well... more like what he said about his Pokemon. Friends... we're too different to be friends with Pokemon, they were higher beings than us... and as such we should free them from our oppression... we're too different to be "friends..." People only say that just because they have them under their control! That was it... and it was only duty to liberate them. Our duty is to our King's vision!

Minccino started to rub my leg with its tail, which made me trip up and lose balance. I could hear it laughing at me. "YOU!" I cried and I scooped up Minccino and held it up at my eye level. "You think you're so cute, huh?" I growled at it, which made Minccino tickle me under my chin. I flinched as I dropped my arms and covered my chin. Minccino landed on its feet and then climbed up on my shoulder. I eyed Minccino for a moment until I felt something rubbing my leg again. Okay, Minccino's tail wasn't that long...

"Agh! Stop that, Purrloin!" I cried as Purrloin snickered at me, still rubbing against my leg. Minccino then tickled my back with its tail, making me trip even more. "Agh! That's it! I'm gonna annihilate you two!" I screamed as I tried to grab both of them, but they all laughed and jumped off me when I spun around enough times, making me dizzy. I kept spinning in a dazed like state, then I felt water being pressed on me and I fell backwards. Okay... I knew THAT one was from Ducklett.

All three of them were laughing at me now, and here I was, in the middle of the route, dripping wet. With a huff, I went and grabbed them all with my free arm, and proceeded to noogie all three of them in the moment. "Who's so tough now, huh?! Who's won this round now, ya sneaky little buggers?" I said. It didn't matter, they were still laughing at me. After a while, of being serious and annoyed, I couldn't help but laugh myself. I probably look like an idiot here. What if someone saw me? And being so close to the city too! And the other grunts!

"Alright, fun's over. Back in your Pokeballs, all of you." I said, taking out all three Pokeballs and putting all of them in their respected ones. Being so close to Nimbasa after trading that sandy route, I couldn't wait to see buildings.

I don't know how I ended up with my Lord N so fast. Of course, a few other grunts were with me.

When I arrived in Nimbasa I noticed some of the other grunts running into the amusement park. Now, don't get me wrong, Nimbasa City is the City of all amusement parks! I even heard the Gym Leader here had a freakin' rollercoaster inside her gym! That is so cool in itself! I wonder how fast it can really go? Do you have to battle her to ride it?

Er... I went off subject. Moving on.

Anyways, when I followed the grunts into the park, I saw a familiar head of green heading towards the Ferris Wheel with another familiar head. It was... my King! And that boy was the one from the forest! Oh crap... how long was that boy here? What about anyone else? "Crap... crapcrapcrap, this is not good at all!" I cursed myself. I picked up my pace and noticed the grunts that disappeared into the park. We banded together and headed toward the Ferris Wheel. Just in time too, my Lord N just got off with the boy. Judging from the boy's expression, it looks like my Lord told him who he was.

All of us grunts rushed to the Ferris Wheel when we saw our Lord. We were concerned, what did you expect?

"Go, quickly, and let my battle cover your retreat." I heard him say. And of course, we did as ordered by our King during his battle.

We ran out of the amusement park and was long gone before the boy could even look back. We kept running until we were out of the city, and headed towards the direction of Driftveil City. We only stopped once we were out, since the bridge was up. With no other choice, we stayed hidden and kept a look out for our King. It took a while, but we finally saw him exit the city. The grunts that were in the park were excited and went up to him. I already had my Pokemon out in the open for some fresh air. I would run up to my Lord like the others, but I wanted to keep in eye on those three, just in case they try to pull some pranks on me like they've been doing all this time.

As I got up to go and greet my King, Minccino ran up to me. But something was different about it... it looked really worried about something. I quirked a brow in response. "What is it?" I asked, curious as to why Minccino looked like that. Minccino then ran off in a direction, gesturing me to follow it. I casually walked after it, Minccino wasn't going that far anyway. I then saw Ducklett and Purrloin crowing around something, Minccino following soon after. I picked my pace to join them and my eyes widened a bit.

It was a Solosis. A hurt Solosis at that.

Its eyes were shut as it shuddered, and I could see a few wounds from it... and was that static moving across it's body? It was paralyzed and weak, it probably came from battling some trainer who tried to catch it. Unbelievable. "Poor thing... come on." I bent down to its level and picked it up from the ground. It really felt like I was holding jelly since its surface was so watery looking, so I was careful not to accidentally drop it. "I got some Paralyze Heal and some Cheri Berries in my bag. I was saving it for later, but... I think you need it more right now." I said to it as I walked. Minccino, Purrloin, and Ducklett walked with me as I returned to the place I was sitting in before, where I left my bag full of medical stuff.

As I sat down with Solosis still around my arm, I dug around my bag with my free hand, first picking out a Cheri Berry. Carefully, I picked it up and held it to where I thought Solosis' mouth was. "Okay... try and chew this slowly. It'll help you with your paralysis." It took a while for the berry to get into Solosis' mouth. I was grateful it was a Psychic type and all, since it took the berry with the remaining power it had left. It took a while before the static died down, but Solosis was still weak.

"What's going on?"

I blinked as I turn my head to who was talking to me, and I froze for a second. "Crap... How could I forget that Lord N was still here?!"I screamed in my head, but outwardly I was calm. My king was really approachable when it came to us grunts. "A-Ah... my Lord N... this Solosis... I found it paralyzed and thought I could help it." I started, eyes wandering back to the Solosis in my lap. "It's not paralyzed anymore, but... they're still some wounds that needs healing."

"I see then..." he said to me, then turned his attention to Solosis. I noticed that his expression changed slightly, he was more saddened by this. "I'm sorry that this happened to you, Solosis. I will help anyway I can." He reached out his hand and softly petted Solosis' surface. I could hear Solaris softly coo at his touch. Watching both of them, you could see the tenderness between N and Solosis. I practically had to keep my focus on getting that Max Potion so that I wouldn't get distracted by how cute that moment was! I took out a Max Potion from my bag, and held it out for Lord N to see. "Yes, that will help Solosis a lot. Thank you." he said. I sprayed the potion over Solosis, and my Lord and I worked together to heal it up. It took until nightfall to do it, but Solosis looked much better than where I found it.

"Solosis was grateful to you for caring for it." N told me as Solosis fell asleep on my lap. "I'm surprised to hear that this Pokemon likes you,"

Wait... what? "It does?" I asked, looking down at it. It looked so peaceful at it slept

"Yes... and that goes for the Pokemon surrounding you right now. Here, I'm going to talk to one of them to prove it." he said. I froze again as he made his way towards where Minccino was sitting. Crap... after all of the things that I did to Minccino and the others? Pushing them into battle in order to get stronger for the sake of achieving his dream? Ugh... it didn't matter if it was for the cause... my King won't like me for it. And I didn't forget that he spoke Pokemon talk. All three of them could rat me out right now. Crap... Crap... Crap...!

"OK. OK, I got it." he said. My Lord looked straight at me. Oh Arceus, here we go. Let the lecture commence. "Minccino says that 'Lily is a good person deep down. All three of us play with her all the time, and she's easy to pick on."

Why that little...

"'Despite who she hangs around with, she watches out for us.' It seems that this Minccino trusts you for some reason. In fact... all of them do. That's good! That is good news to hear from them."

Wait... what? Did I... hear that correctly? "That... that isgood to hear." That was all I could say. I didn't know if Minccino was covering for me or what, but... at least I didn't get an earful from my Lord like I feared. I was unaware that a smile was forming on my face.

"Since you're part of the people that would help save the Pokemon, I would say that I'm not too surprised to hear that from them." he said. "But even as we sit here, there are still Pokemon that are suffering. There are still Pokemon that were hurt like that Solosis. That Pokemon told me what happened you know. Solosis was paralyzed by a Trainer's Zebstrika."

So that explains it. Hmph... I knew it.

"What is there to be seen through something as meaningless as a battle? The only thing it proves is that my friends get hurt in the process. Trainers says that it's for understanding each other's Pokemon, but how is that achieved by hurting each other?! I don't understand how that could be, it's such a tolerance that I could never accept. Pokemon are not just tools for people to use, and yet people use them as such!"

I just listened to my lord speak of his cause. His speaking to people privately is just as riveting as if he was talking to a group of people. You could feel it in his words how strongly he feels about it. You could see that he truly cares for Pokemon and their well-being... that's how pure Lord N was. Heh... and then there's me. Thinking about it now, I've been treating Minccino and the others like tools myself. Pushing them to the limits, calling them weak, only caring for their well-being when it's clearly obvious... and I call myself a soldier of liberation? What a joke... with all of my talk, I never deliver.

"It's a shame, really... If Pokemon and People cared about one another like those two and their Pokemon... and even you and Minccino, then the liberation wouldn't even be needed." I heard N say. Oh my Lord you know so little about me... "But that doesn't matter... I will make the liberation happen. My conviction is strong, and I'll be a hero."

I was unsure of what to say after he talks about his vision. Sometimes they're so deep that I could cry, and sometimes he talks so fast I can barely keep up with what he's saying. But either way, I would always feel it. There was a silence, a small silence between us. And then I finally broke the ice. "Lord N, did you enjoy the Ferris Wheel today?" I asked.

This always happens between my Lord and the Grunts. I'm no exception. Out of all of the higher-ups in Team Plasma, it was only our Lord that always spoke with us outside of mission briefings. In fact, he rarely spoke to us about them at all. We've talked about the amusement park for a short while before he went on his way. I told him that Solosis was going to be fine at this rate, and that I'll let it go in the morning.

Perhaps... I'll do the same for the others as well.

The minute that we heard that the bridge had went down, the grunts that were with me immediately took their leave. Minccino and the others were still fast asleep when I heard about the bridge. I figured this was the perfect time to set them free. I picked up Solosis without waking it up, and set it at the place I just sat in, where Minccino, Purrloin, and Ducklett were crowded around in slumber. They all looked... peaceful like that... I wonder how did it look with me sleeping there...?

"No. Can't think about that. I'm doing the right thing."I thought to myself. Yes... I was liberating the Pokemon that aided me in my mission. That had to set a good example for others. Why preach about liberation when you can't even liberate your own Pokemon? That's what I came to realize. I'm sure they won't miss after all I've put them through not too long ago. And so, I went on my way to my next mission.

There were grunts that were captured by the Driftveil Gym Leader, but escaped when the bridge was brought down according to the report sent to me. So I had to be careful when crossing towards Driftveil and into Chargestone Cave, my next station point, in fear of getting caught. The bright side of this was that at least I had company in the two grunts I was with. Unlike the group I was in while at Nacrene City, we barely even spoke to each other, so the trip went rather quickly. While sneaking into the city, we took our time hiding behind cargo and away from the gym. We hung around the Cold Storage, and when the coast was clear, we went to our respected destination.

The grunts went around and snuck around the city in their uniforms. Me? I figured I could at least take off my upper top and just walk with no problem.

...

Shut up. I always have a black shirt under my uniform.

I walked briskly with my hood in my arms, making sure that the team's emblem wasn't seen to any unwanted eyes. People that saw me just assumed that I was doing laundry or something. But... god, do you know how heavy this part of my uniform is? Some of the parts were inspired by some sort of armor, so yeah... it's sort of heavy. I'd say about... fifteen pounds in each shoulder pad? It gets heavy after a while where you carry it in your arms. When people walked up to me noticing this heaviness, I had to make up some stories quick, or reject them short and sweet.

"Is that your laundry?"

"Yeah... that time of the week again."

"That looks like a heavy load... Mind if I help?"

"Oh nonononono. I got it."

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah. Thanks though." And I would hurry on my way and repeat this process until I got out of the city.

As soon as I got out of the city, I put the upper part of my uniform back on as I walked towards Chargestone Cave. Looking around the scenery, the Pokemon that were at peace here, I felt happy. I really did. Seeing Pokemon at peace like that made me feel more at ease as I thought about my mission. And while thinking about that fact, my thoughts briefly wandered to Minccino and the others. How were they doing? Were they adjusting to the wild life again? How was Solosis? Did Purrloin get into another battle by itself? Was Ducklett flying over the bridge?

I shook my head. "F-Forget about them. They're free... they're happy. They're where they belong." I told myself, rubbing my hand against my brow. They've been liberated, and I could get some other Pokemon to help me, and then let them go as soon as it's done. It wasn't that hard... why didn't I do that with Minccino and the others before? It wasn't that hard to free them... it wasn't that hard...

So then why do I feel this crappy?